Congress is again making noises about bailing out the newspaper industry.

But the mainstream papers - other than a select few, such as McClatchy - were largely cheerleaders for the Iraq war, and covered up (or - as in the case of the New York Times - delayed for a year so the story would not effect elections) crimes like illegal spying on Americans.

Instead of bailing out lapdogs for the government and mouthpieces for the wealthy, how about giving seed money to alternative journalists who actually report the news without pulling punches?